Everything about this record screams for attention… to say nothing of the singer. From the name, the title, the biblical cover art absorbed in violet and shadow, to the five colorfully titled personalities that created it, Avenged Sevenfold is like few bands you've heard before -- and about five in one.

At the forefront they're a hardcore band owing little to their Orange County roots; they could well be from another era, conjured the spirit of "Bohemian" bred Queen, borrowing a handful of VH "1" vocal harmonies, soaked up a little Scandinavian black light, then landed somewhere between the Windy City and Necropolis to produce a remarkably tight record that transcends genre-specific boundaries… right, right, old hat, but alas, this is no ordinary HC/punk/emo-core show project bloated on broken engagements and systemic breakdowns.
Rendering lightning fast riffs as quickly as they'll render useless a metronome, AS, the powers of punk yet united, power through classic Euro-metal entrapments and black soul aggression where if you blink twice, you're already lost.
From the aesthetic doom of the foreboding "To End The Rapture," the enraged and ethereal "Darkness Surrounding," to the meticulously percussive arena-rock flicker of "Warmness On The Soul," there's no stone left unturned in a traditionally hard rock sense. They've got it all covered, and what little they don't, they hide with well-blended sloppiness.
If you combined the likes of The Babylon Whores, Bad Religion, Fall Silent, Earache and Revelation Records, blitzed through Caviar-era Priest, you'd still fall short… but it'd be a good place to begin.
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